Enter the Matrix of Coherent Networks Deployment

Jean-Sébastien Tassé

Product Manager

Jean-Sébastien Tassé has more than 13 years of experience in sales and marketing in the high-tech sector. He currently holds the position of Product Line Manager in EXFO’s optical business unit, where he oversees the business strategy, roadmap and launch strategy of the optical spectrum analyzer and dispersion product lines. At EXFO, he is also business development manager for the market segments of submarine networks and fronthaul/backhaul networks (optical products). He began his career as Sales Engineer for Gentec Electro-Optics, where he was responsible for direct and channel sales in specific regions in the Americas, Asia and Europe. As Business Development Manager for the Thin Film Research Laboratory at the École Polytechnique de Montréal/University of Montreal, he was instrumental in delivering revenue growth in analytical services for companies. Jean-Sébastien holds a bachelor's degree in Engineering Physics and a master’s degree in Electrical Engineering (optics) from Université Laval, in Québec City, Canada.

Planning to deploy 40G/100G technologies? Well, there’s no escaping it; you have to choose between the green pill and the brown pill. In both cases, you win some and you lose some. It’s all about what you are ready to lose and what you want to gain. Choose well.

Before you embark on the quest on deploying high-speed coherent systems, you might want some expert advice on the matter. No need to see an oracle, you’ve come to the right place to ask your questions.

What’s a coherent system?

Coherent systems are a complex way of transmitting data in a fiber. The amplitude and phase of optical signals can be modulated instead of simply turning the pulse off and on. Coherent systems are used in next-gen networks to carry multiple high-bit rate data streams of 40 Gbit/s and 100 Gbit/s. Coherent systems ensure that the growing need for high speed and bandwidth will be met, and are actively being deployed.

What’s brownfield deployment?

That’s when you choose to deploy 40G/100G technologies over an existing, active network. This means that your system will have to cohabitate with the other existing signals. It’s the choice that requires the least investment and there’s no traffic interruption in setting up your service. However, you’ll need strong testing capabilities to ensure that there’s indeed no service disruption and that everything runs smoothly. The bottom line is that end-user quality of experience should not be negatively impacted.

What’s greenfield deployment?

Greenfield deployment as the name suggests is the activation of 40G/100G technologies on new network builds, over unused fiber (also known as dark fiber). The darker side of greenfield is the cost of building and acquiring new infrastructure and equipment. Before turning-up your brand new network, you’ll need to thoroughly pre-test everything and ensure that you’ll be delivering what you promised.

Surveys in the telecom industry concerning 40G/100G transition plans have shown that there’s a strong preference among Carriers for brownfield when it comes to deploying 40G/100G. In fact, for both metro and core networks, about two thirds of new coherent deployments are planned to be brownfield.

Whether greenfield or brownfield, you cannot leave out any gray area when it comes to your testing and troubleshooting capabilities. Each deployment strategy gives rise to its specific set of impairments that your technicians will have to tackle before and after you deploy.

To learn more about types of impairments and their prevalence in greenfield vs brownfield deployments, and how to address them, delve into our webinar.